African Union Commission and GCA Sign Partnership Agreement to Implement the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program
S harm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 8th November 2022 – The African Union Commission (AUC) and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) have joined forces to accelerate and scale climate adaptation action in Africa through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed today.
The signing ceremony of the partnership agreement took place as part of “Africa Day” on COP27, in the Africa Pavilion.
The African Union Commission Chairperson, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, witnessed the signing of the partnership agreement between the African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Development, H.E. Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko and GCA Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Patrick Verkooijen.
The MoU sets out a framework of cooperation for the two organizations to support the implementation of the Africa-owned and African Union-endorsed Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP) launched by GCA and the African Development Bank. The AAAP, the largest adaptation initiative on the continent, is mobilizing $25 billion for climate adaptation investments in Africa in the next five years for a faster and stronger post-COVID-19 economic recovery based on climate-resilient development pathways. The AAAP is implementing the vision of the African Union-endorsed Africa Adaptation Initiative through its projects on climate-smart agriculture, resilient infrastructure, adaptation jobs for young people, and innovative financial instruments. In its first 18 months of operations, the AAAP’s Upstream Financing Facility has influenced more than $3.5 billion of downstream investments with Multilateral Development Banks in 19 countries across Africa.
Through the MoU, the two institutions will work jointly on enhancing climate adaptation solutions outlined in the respective organization’s strategic frameworks, such as the African Union Green Recovery Action Plan (GRAP) and the African Union Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy and Action Plan.
The AUC and GCA will collaborate under four strategic themes: advocacy and agenda setting of climate adaptation in Africa; joint outreach of key adaptation knowledge; joint actions to strengthen Africa’s infrastructure resilience; and joint actions to improve Early Warning Systems for the purpose of strengthening last-mile agricultural resilience.
The organizations will work jointly to institutionalize adaptation policy in African countries through key platforms and events and raise the role of youth in climate adaptation. Specific programmatic collaboration will be undertaken to mainstream adaptation to strengthen Africa’s infrastructure and agriculture resilience.
The theme of this year’s Africa Day Event was “Implementation of Climate Actions and Africa’s Responses for a Just and Sustainable Transition” and was organized by Africa’s main regional institutions, namely: The African Union Commission (AUC), the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB); and African Union Development Agency-NEPAD in collaboration with the Republic of Botswana.
The Africa Adaptation Summit chaired by H.E. Macky Sall, President of Senegal and Chairperson of the African Union, and organized by GCA in September brought together global and African leaders, including AUC Chairperson Faki and AUC Commissioner Sacko, for the first-ever global summit to focus on accelerating climate adaptation in Africa.
About the African Union Commission
The African Union Commission (AUC) is the African Union’s secretariat and undertakes the day to day activities of the Union, entrusted with executive functions. Its structure represents the Union and protects its interest under the auspices of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government as well as the Executive Committee. The AU Commission is made up of Portfolios. They are: Peace and Security; Political Affairs; Trade and Industry; Infrastructure and Energy; Social Affairs; Rural Economy and Agriculture; Human Resources, Science and Technology; and Economic Affairs. It is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
About the Global Center on Adaptation
The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is an international organization which works as a solutions broker to accelerate action and support for adaptation solutions, from the international to the local, in partnership with the public and private sector. Founded in 2018, GCA operates from its headquarters in the largest floating office in the world, located in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. GCA has a worldwide network of regional offices in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; Dhaka, Bangladesh and Beijing, China.
Contacts:
Alex Gee
Head of Communications
Global Center on Adaptation
alex.gee@gca.org
Chinedu Moghalu
Senior Communication Advisor to the CEO
Global Center on Adaptation
chinedu.moghalu@gca.org
